イザヤ書 21:1-5 JCB

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:1-9

The effect of God's judgments on the good and on the guilty. We gather, preliminarily: 1. That God uses not only elemental forces but human agents for the accomplishment of his righteous purposes. The winds and the waves are his ministers; but sometimes, as here, the whirlwinds he invokes are not the airs of heaven but the passions and agitations of human minds. 2. That the greatest human power is nothing in his mighty hand. Babylon was a "great power" indeed in human estimation at... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:1-10

THE BURDEN OF THE DESERT OF THE SEA . This is a short and somewhat vague, but highly poetic, "burden of Babylon" It is probably an earlier prophecy than Isaiah 13:1-22 . and 14; and perhaps the first revelation made to Isaiah with respect to the fall of the great Chaldean capital. It exhibits no consciousness of the fact that Babylon is Judah's predestined destroyer, and is expressive rather of sympathy (verses 3, 4) than of triumph. Among recent critics, some suppose it... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:1-10

Fall of Babylon. It is thought, by some recent commentators, that the description refers to the siege of Babylon in B.C. 710 by Sargon the Assyrian. The King of Babylon at that time was Merodach-Baladan, who sent letters and a present to Hezekiah when he was sick ( Isaiah 39:1 ; 2 Kings 20:12 ). The prophet may well grieve over the fall of Babylon, as likely to drag down with it weaker kingdoms. I. THE SOUND OF THE TEMPEST . What sublime poesy have the prophets found in the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:2

A grievous vision ; literally, a hard vision ; not, however, "hard of interpretation" (Kay), but rather "hard to be borne," "grievous," "calamitous." The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously ; rather, perhaps, the robber robs (Knobel); or, the violent man uses violence (Rosenmüller). The idea of faithlessness passes out of the Hebrew boged occasionally, and is unsuitable here, more especially if it is the army of Cyrus that is intended. Go up, O Elam . The discovery that... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:2

Nations working out God's providences. The reference of this " burden " is to Babylon, which was the successor to Assyria in executing the Divine judgments on the Jews. Babylonia is called "the desert of the sea," as a poetical figure, suggested by the fact that its surging masses of people were like a sea-desert; or because it was a flat country, and full of lakes, like little seas. It was abundantly watered by the many streams of the river Euphrates. The prophet, writing when Babylon... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:3

Therefore are my loins filled with pain , etc. (comp. above, Isaiah 15:5 ; Isaiah 16:9-11 ). The prophet is horrorstruck at the vision shown him—at the devastation, the ruin, the carnage ( Isaiah 13:18 ). He does not stop to consider how well deserved the punishment is; he does not, perhaps, as yet know how that, in smiting Babylon, God will be specially avenging the sufferings of his own nation (see the introductory paragraph). I was bowed down at the hearing , etc.; rather, I am... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:3

Sympathy of bodies with distress of mind. The prophet is only seeing in a vision something that is going to happen by-and-by. But the scene presented to him is so terrible that he cannot exult in it, though it is the overthrow of an enemy's city. He is deeply distressed, and the mental anguish finds its response in acutest bodily pains. The "loins" are referred to in Scripture as the seat of the sharpest pains ( Ezekiel 21:6 ; Nahum 2:10 ). The most familiar illustration of the sympathy... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:3-4

The sadness of a nation's overthrow. A nation is God's creation, no less than an individual. And it is a far more elaborate work. What forethought, what design, what manifold wisdom, must not have been required for the planning out of each people's national character, for the partitioning out to them of their special gifts and aptitudes, for the apportionment to each of its place in history, for the conduct of each through the many centuries of its existence! It is a sad thing to be witness... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:4

My heart panted ; rather, my heart trembleth , or fluttereth . The night of my pleasure ; i.e. "the night, wherein, I am wont to enjoy peaceful and pleasant slumbers." read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:5

Prepare the table , etc. With lyrical abruptness, the prophet turns from his own feelings to draw a picture of Babylon at the time when she is attacked. tie uses historical infinitives, the most lively form of narrative. Translate, They deck the table , set the watch , eat , drink ; i.e. having decked the table, they commit the task of watching to a few, and then give themselves up to feasting and reveling, as if there were no danger. It is impossible not to think of Belshazzar's... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:1-9

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:1-10

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:1-10

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:2

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:2

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:3

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:3

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:3-4

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:4

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 21:5

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